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According to the article, the shell game apparently went something like this: Caldera was split into three companies: Caldera Systems (a Linux business run by Ransom Love), and an embedded systems company quickly renamed Lineo, were both spun off from the original "Caldera Inc.", leaving it an empty shell with no employees, run by Bryan Sparks (also CEO of Lineo). Caldera Inc. received the Microsoft suit settlement money on behalf of Canopy, then faded away. Caldera Systems went on to have an IPO in order to fund its operations (presumably deluding some investors into believing it had received the Microsoft money, and thus was in much better financial shape than it really was.) Shortly thereafter it switched corporate identity again to "Caldera International". (And you wonder why it forgot it had been a Linux company...)
Canopy sold Lineo to Motorola in 2002. Bryan Sparks went on to run Device Logics, another Canopy company based on DR-DOS, a technology once owned by Caldera, then Lineo, but never relinquished by Canopy. Another Caldera technology taken away from Caldera and used to start another Canopy company was Caldera Volution manager, used to form Canopy's holding Volution. (If SCO does come up with any major cash windfall, the authors of this commentary would not be at all surprised to see Canopy find some way to absorb it again.)
At the time of the lawsuit's filing, Ray Noorda owned 47.7 percent of SCO/Caldera's's stock through the Canopy Group, a division of the Noorda Family Trust which Ray Noorda still personally oversaw as recently as 2001. Although Canopy has reduced its ownership position slightly since the lawsuit (taking advantage of the increased stock price to cash out), it still owns more than 40% of Caldera's shares. According to page 66 of SCO/Caldera's most recent annual report, SCO's chairman of the board is the president and CEO of Canopy (meaning he works for Ray Noorda the way Darl McBride works for him). SCO/Caldera leases its office space from Canopy. On page 67 we learn that SCO's largest creditor is the Canopy Group.
Presumably, Canopy could stop the lawsuit with a phone call, but hopes to profit from it instead. |
